Klahoose First Nation
With Klahoose or complete Klahoose a First Nation of Canada's First Nations is called in British Columbia. It belongs to the Salish language group, culturally to the Coastal Salish, and lives in the northern Strait of Georgia between Vancouver and the mainland Iceland. Their traditional territory is located northeast of Campbell River and includes the Desolation Sound and the drainage area of Toba Inlet. They are closely related to the Sliammon and the Homalco.
Klahoose currently has, according to the Aboriginal Canada Portal to 285 members, of which about 60 live in the reserve, some 150 in Campbell River, Powell River and Vancouver. ƛohos ( Klahoose ) means something like bullhead.
Compared to the Canadian governments at the federal and provincial level they are represented by Naut'Sa Mawt Tribal Council, which represents eight more tribes.
Language
The language of the Klahoose belongs to the Coastal Salish, the dialect is called ʔayʔǰuθəm. It corresponds almost exactly to the idiom of the Sliammon First Nations and Homalco. However, the dialect, like almost all Salish languages threatened with extinction. 2003 has been started to teach the language again tribal members together with the University of Victoria a program called Developmental Standard Term Certificate. Linguistic and practical language courses are conducted until 2009. It also includes own script and two stories.
History
First contact with Europeans
On July 2, 1792 met two research teams from the Chatham and Discovery, the ship George Vancouver, the Sliammon, the neighbors of the Klahoose. Gl'amin, today Lund ( there begins today Highway 101 ), could have been shared by the tribes.
1862 reached a severe smallpox epidemic that claimed a large part of the indigenous British Columbia's life, even the Klahoose. Residues of another tribe were united with the surviving Klahoose and relocated to Squirrel Cove. Many whalers - 1869 a railway station was built in Whale Town - lived on exports. But within two years, the whale population collapsed completely, the station was closed.
Michael Manson from the Shetland Islands in 1886 came the first settlers on the island. At today's Manson 's Landing, he founded a trading post. His steam boats and caught by the Klahoose and its neighbors fish supplied the coal mines. 1893 opened the first post office for the 40 inhabitants of the island, a few years later, 12 students were taught.
Mission, land sales and forced assimilation
The first church was built in 1896. At this time, the current community was founded, which is located on the eastern shore of the Cortes Iceland in Squirrel Cove.
Large parts of the traditional area were sold around this time, the Klahoose had, however, like all First Nations, no sales law. The children were increasingly placed in boarding schools like where they should be educated to Canadians. After the dissolution of the Residential Schools - for Klahoose it was mainly the school in Sechelt - more than ten thousand procedures have been strained due to encroachments in front of numerous courts in Canada. Later, the churches and the state Canada has apologized and set up a restitution fund. This expired in March 2007 and paid the affected members of the Klahoose around 224,000 CAD from. In June 2008, also the Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized.
Timber harvesting on Cortes Iceland
1989 had demonstrated against clearcutting of the logging company MacMillan Bloedel numerous residents of Cortes Iceland. Signed in 1999, the chief of the Klahosse, Kathy Francis, a contract for the ecological use of the forest area in Iceland with the Cortes Cortes Ecoforestry Society. This was triggered by the sale of the entire crownland on the island of Canadian Forest Products Ltd.. - Without consultations with the Klahoose. The Klahoose belonged to a small area in the island interior.
Transport links
The remote Cortes Island was late with a ferry to Quadra Iceland, since 1969 also to Vancouver Iceland.
Current situation
The Klahoose First Nation is spread over 10 reserves with a total area of 1,357 ha The largest reserves are Klahoose Indian Reservation with 1 923 ha ( at the mouth of Toba River in the Toba Inlet) and Klahoose 7 with 183 ha located on the main town Cortes Iceland in Squirrel Cove.
2007 was chosen as the new chief Ken Brown. Biggest task and probably one of the main sources of income is the agreement with Plutonic Power, a power and water provider. In September 2007, for $ 30 million were provided, the work has already begun. Together with Prime Minister Campbell opened the chief the East Toba / Montrose Creek Hydroelectric Project in the Toba Valley. The total cost is expected to reach 660 million CAD. The power plant will supply 196 megawatts. Overall, the provincial government will invest $ 3 billion in the so-called Green Power Corridor, a series of installations that will provide "clean" electricity for 500,000 households.